Archive for the ‘Jace’ Category

Mandy’s coming home this week which means I need to clean this crap up. The meals in the early part of the week are for just me and are designed to be easy to cook and clean up so I can learn how to turn on this Dyson. The rest of the week’s meals are what I’m sure Mandy will want after being out of Texas for so long.

Monday: Shrimp Tacos. These were awesome last week and Mandy won’t be back so I can have seafood in the house.Tuesday: Steak, ‘taters and the same salad from last week. It was good, and I’m going to eat salad again.Wednesday: Steak fingers and fries. Mandy told me she needs ketchup. This meal needs ketchup. I’m a matchmaker.Thursday: Pork chops with shells and cheese. Right after ketchup, she said she needed shells and cheese. Matchmaking.Friday: Date Night.Saturday: ANOTHER DATE NIGHT

What I'll Try To Blame The State Of My House On When Mandy Gets Back From Africa

So while Mandy’s off in Africa, I decided I’d try to keep busy. I have almost a week’s worth of new recipe ideas of things I like to eat and things I want to cook, attempting also trying not to get scurvy while she’s gone. I might have gone a little overboard with that whole “keep busy” idea, because the menu is somewhat tricky and I have a list of things to do and a more important list of things not to do (I’m not allowed to set fire to anything except the burners of the stove, for example) around the house while she’s gone.

Tonight: Balsamic Chicken, Rice Provençal, Mimosa Salad. Yes, salad. I’m trying to branch out, and it may end up being something Mandy will get to try on Valentine’s Day.Tuesday: Filet Mignon, Roasted Baby Potatoes with Chive butter, Pan Roasted Haricot Vert. I may get in trouble for doing this because Mandy loves this dish.Wednesday: Shrimp Fajitas. I never get to eat sea food because Mandy can’t stand the smell or texture of any of it, so I aim to rectify this deficiency somewhat with this dish.Thursday: Tea Brined and Roasted Cornish Hen, Mashed Potatoes, Corn. I love everything about roast chicken. Make all of that in a serving for one? Yes, please.Friday: No idea. Probably Long Johns or something sea-foody.

The Boy here with another installment of And Now For Something Completely Different where we’re focusing on veal stock. Tonight we’re making a fairly simple cream sauce that works well on pretty much anything, but it’s more of a…. philosophy than a recipe. We like to use it on chicken and pasta, but it would be good with something mild like fish and pretty much anything starchy.

We’re going to start with some sautéed chicken (or fish, or turkey, etc). We’ll post a recipe for Chicken Provençal pretty soon, but just basic chicken breast seasoned with salt and pepper sautéed in about 2 tbsp of butter will do quite nicely. Just after you get the chicken done and you have all those amazing little brown bits just begging to turn into a sauce. So that’s what we’re going to do.

Let’s start with two cups of veal stock. Just pour it in and scrape up the little bits with a whisk or metal spatula. Let that bubble away and reduce for about 2 minutes on medium to medium-high heat. Next up we’re going to pour in 1/2 a cup of heavy cream.

Hey? Where are you going? I said it’d be good, not healthy. Good. You can eat a salad or something with it.

So, we’ve added the cream and the sauce is pretty close to awesome. Lower the heat–for fear of having the cream de-nature and break apart (that’d be gross)–to medium or medium-low and let it bubble away for another minute.

Here’s where you need to make some decisions. If you plan on using it as a thin dipping sauce, like an au jus sort of consistency, then just skip this step. If you, like we, plan to make it a fairly thick sauce for pasta and chicken, then we need to thicken it up. The easiest way to do this is to make a slurry by mixing 2 teaspoons of corn starch and 2 teaspoons of water in a small bowl or cup and mix it all together. This stuff will thicken any hot thing you pour it into very, very quickly. It’s like magic. Seriously, it’s pretty fun to watch.

Now you’ve got your perfectly thickened–or maybe still thin–sauce and it’s just about done. Grab yourself a clean spoon and give the sauce a taste. Mine needed about a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of pepper. You also want to put something in here to tie it with your main dish; we used some herbes de provence and freshly grated nutmeg. But we’ve also used cajun spices, Italian seasonings and, well, I bet anything would probably work pretty well.

The sauce we just made is really tasty. It’s got a deep flavor with a velvety kind of feel to it; it also has enough body to stick to pasta but thin enough to keep from being a stew. Give it a try, and I promise, you’ll be hooked.

After sautéing some chicken, quickly deglaze with 2 cups of veal stock being sure to scrape up all the little brown bits. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and allow to reduce for approximately 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of heavy cream and lower heat to medium and allow to simmer for a minute or two, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, mix 2 tsp of corn starch with 2 tsp of water in a small bowl. Add the slurry to the pot and continue to stir until the sauce is all the same consistency. Simmer for another minute. Add 1/4 tsp of herbes de provence and season with salt and pepper to taste. Finally, add just the tiniest pinch of freshly grated nutmeg at the end.

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Our crazy life together began in junior high. We dated for 8 years before we were married in September of 2007. In November of 2012 we welcomed baby Connor into our tiny family. Welcome to the place where we put our thoughts, photos and miscellaneous ramblings.